Ralph Ellison vs. Franz Kafka
Side-by-side comparison of two thinkers
Ralph Ellison
1914 – 1994
Ralph Waldo Ellison was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953.
"Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat."
Franz Kafka
1894 – 1924
Franz Kafka was a German-language Jewish Czech writer and novelist born in Prague, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature, his works fuse elements of realism and the fantastique, and typically feature isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surreal predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. The term Kafkaesque has entered the lexicon to describe situations like those depicted in his writings.
"May I kiss you then? On this miserable paper? I might as well open the window and kiss the night air."
Connections
Both wrote about: